Legislation on online betting moves forward in Zimbabwe

The Gaming Board of Zimbabwe is expected to release updated legislation within the next few months, making online betting legal.

Zimbabwe.- The Gaming Board of Zimbabwe is currently discussing updated legislation which aims to make it legal for interested Zimbabweans to gamble through the Internet.

Zimbabwe’s betting industry is already experiencing a boom. Surging internet penetration across Zimbabwe, especially the paced-up unrolling of fiber links by companies such as Liquid Telecom and TelOne, has seen a rise in the number of betting houses and the number of Zimbabweans visiting them to gamble.

At this point, punters who enter betting houses are able to not only scour the internet for information, but they can also place their bet online and only interact with betting clerks when placing their bet. It is clear that the infrastructure for online betting is in place, but can only be used by a punter who is inside the betting shop.

Now, forthcoming legislation from the Board is set to change all that benefitting many stakeholders in the sector. The first beneficiary of online betting will be the betting houses who will multiply their current volumes. It is also an opportunity for third party entrepreneurs providing all kinds of services. Africalotto has already demonstrated how online gambling might work with the release of its 2014 Android app.

Zimbabweans follow news events, religious movements (prophets and their pronouncements,) celebrity culture and political events. All these interests may be added to the menu of things Zimbabweans can bet on.